


Rhapsody in Red

by Rabentochter



Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), Thor (Movies)
Genre: Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Asgard, BAMF Frigga (Marvel), BAMF Loki (Marvel), BAMF Tony Stark, Banter, Bickering, Canon Divergence - Thor: The Dark World, Canon-Typical Violence, Canonical Character Death, Enemies to Lovers, Fluffy Ending, Getting Together, Happy Ending, Humor, Illusions, Light Angst, Loki (Marvel) Angst, Loki (Marvel) Does What He Wants, Loki (Marvel) Feels, Loki (Marvel) Lies, Loki (Marvel) Needs a Hug, M/M, Matter of Life and Death, Morning Cuddles, Panic Attacks, Past Pepper Potts/Tony Stark, Sarcasm, Sneaky Frigga (Marvel), Suicidal Thoughts, Thor (Marvel) is a Good Bro, Tony Stark Angst, Tony Stark Does What He Wants, Tony Stark Feels, Tony Stark Has Issues, Tony Stark Has Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, Tony Stark Is Not Helping, Tony Stark Needs a Hug
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-28
Updated: 2019-11-28
Packaged: 2021-03-05 23:35:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 14,189
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21598696
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rabentochter/pseuds/Rabentochter
Summary: When Tony's life is in danger, Thor takes him to Asgard for help.Or:Where Tony finds the Aether before Jane does and really wants Loki to go and take a shower.
Relationships: Loki/Tony Stark, Tony Stark & Thor
Comments: 56
Kudos: 708
Collections: Fics I Don't Want To Lose, Marvel





	Rhapsody in Red

**Author's Note:**

> This thing here happened because an anon asked about an AU where Tony finds the Aether before Jane on [Tumblr](https://rabentochter.tumblr.com/post/189359449249/has-anyone-ever-considered-a-frostiron-au-if-tony) 😊 Hope you enjoy this! 
> 
> Thank you to **NamelesslyNightlock** for betaing, the title, and helping out when I hit a spot where I just couldn't write anymore ❤️

Red had always been a colour Tony liked. Red had been a colour Howard _didn’t_ wear for one, the other was that it either was so soft and gentle – romantic, ugh – or screamed for blood or was a signal colour, wanting attention. Tony identified with the latter almost every time of the day, with the former when he was fighting in his suit and with the first one, when he was drunk or had a partner. Which was seldom enough that he barely connected it with that.

After New York, after he almost died because some idiots thought it would be fun to send a nuke aimed at a city, Tony had broken up with Pepper. She understood why he’d done what he’d done but that didn’t mean it had been easy for her. And they both had drifted apart, slowly and so well –

Now he was here, somewhere he normally wouldn’t be after JARVIS had told him there were strange readings somewhere around London. They’d been so close to when Thor had appeared and crashed on their jet after they’d caught Loki, and Tony had to investigate. Not, that he thought Loki had escaped but –

Better safe than sorry, right? He couldn’t stop himself from investigating the source of this strangeness by himself. And that was how Tony ended up here, a red something floating in front of him.

“J, you’re seeing that too, aren’t you?”

_“I am, Sir. May I recommend not to go closer to it?”_

“You can recommend, J, but I need data on this thing.”

It was just there, floating in the air like _nothing_ was wrong with that, like gravity didn’t matter and it was above following simple laws of physics. Tony hated supernatural things. Okay, that was a lie, he loved shit like that as long as it didn’t end with him flying to space and through a portal he had no hope of surviving.

“All right, darling, time to take a closer look at you.” No way he’d let that chance slip through his fingers. “Are you ready?” he asked JARVIS as he pulled out his Starkpad and the small scanning device he’d had in his pants, and then started collecting data.

“High on Gamma radiation, aren’t you?” Tony pulled on his sunglasses as the red light started to take its toll on his eyes. It was too bright to stare into for a longer time. Somehow – yeah_, no way._ It reminded him of the Tesseract, the shining core in the blue cube. That had been Gamma Radiation and while it probably wouldn’t make a lot of difference to most people, Tony’s inner alarm bells were ringing.

“This can’t be good.”

_“Why ever would you think so, Sir?”_

“Cut the sass, J. Daddy needs to think.”

Tony stared at the readings of the red energy. This –

This _shouldn’t_ be possible.

Hissing sounds filled the cave and Tony looked up, just in time to see red tendrils shoot towards him and –

His arc reactor was cracking, that couldn’t be good and more red tendrils were hitting him, almost painless until it seemed his brain had understood that this was supposed to hurt –

) ‡ (

Tony woke up with a profound headache. It felt like he’d partied too long but for that, the ground below him was too cold, no bed of his felt like stone and he could hear JARVIS’ worried voice.

_“Sir?”_

“J?”

_“You’ve been out for a few minutes. I got worried.”_

Tony blinked awake slowly, his hands not feeling stable and –

Okay, so. There were red sparks dancing over his arc reactor now. That was probably not good. He felt very much like shooting lasers from his eyes, now that he thought about it. That was a joke. But red sparks like lightning always made him think of that.

“Is that in any way dangerous?” He pointed at the small sparks. JARVIS remained silent and Tony sat slowly up, his head still a bit _whoiiiii_ after this small, involuntary fainting. Thankfully, nobody had seen it. That would’ve been embarrassing. The red energy thing was missing.

“Jay,” Tony said as a bad feeling swelled up in him. “Please don’t tell me that the energy ball is inside of me.”

_“That would require me to lie to you, Sir.”_

“Great. Then lie to me,” Tony groaned. Okay, the worst thing that could happen was that he’d turn into a red Hulk, and hey, he could do better than Bruce, _thank you very much._ The other bad thing was that so much Gamma Radiation was bound to kill him within the next few days and until then, weaken him and make him thirsty like hell.

Things inside of him apparently had a tendency to try and kill him. And again, this had been an unwanted violation of his body. Tony was frankly growing sick of it.

_“Sir, there’s a thunderstorm brewing outside.”_

“What? Now?”

Tony stood up, feeling shaky on his legs, and he put his small scanning device back into his pockets and dusted the most of the dirt off his jacket. “Are we talking about the normal-”

_“A Nordic thunderstorm.”_

“Awww,” Tony cooed. He didn’t really feel that comforted thinking of Thor right now. He’d gone and got something in his body, had adopted some pretty neat red sparks he’d have to take a closer look at later, and Thor was coming? All of sudden? After disappearing on them without a word of when he was going to come back?

Yeah, coincidences and Tony were not a pairing that ended well on most days. “Let’s go and see what Lebowski wants from us.”

He stumbled through the abandoned whatever this was like a fool, his chest starting to ache slowly. The red bolts, whenever they hit his skin, tickled and wrought a smile on his lips but it felt as sincere as Ellis’ campaign had for office. He hoped his fat ass sat comfortable on the good chair, Winston would be crying over the abuse. _Or was that Washington_? Tony couldn’t care less. He was stumbling and as he went on, his steps became more secure again, a hand pressed against his glowing heart and finally, sunlight hit his face.

Just, that it was raining because of course Thor couldn’t bring sunshine with him and apparently, seeing Tony after months of not doing so wasn’t enough to put a smile on his face either. That hurt, really, it did.

“Point Break!” He greeted him loudly and walked over quickly to the Thunder god because around him it was dry. Someone else who can’t just follow simple laws of physics, Tony thought with an eye roll but beamed up at his golden angel. “Fancy meeting you here again after so much time!”

“Tony.” Thor dipped his head lightly and his earnest, blue eyes searched Tony’s. “Heimdall informed me that something out of the ordinary happened here.”

“I happened.”

Thor did not seem to find humour in Tony’s joke.

“I’ve been ordered to bring you to Asgard.”

_“Excuse me?_”

“My friend,” Thor’s voice was grave and his hand was hovering now above his arc reactor. “It seems as if you’ve not only found the Aether, but that it also chose you as its host.”

“Oh, so that’s what the floating energy is called? I thought ‘_darling_’ was a way better name.”

“This is no joking matter-“

“It actually is.” Tony grinned at him. “I found something, I keep it to study it. Ah, right, I touched it. What I touched is mine. And, all that.”

“Stark!”

“Don’t ‘_Stark_’ me, Point Break. You’ve been gone for months and you think I’ll just jump at your word and go with you to Asgard? How am I supposed to know that this is not a kidnapping, huh? Can I take JARVIS with me? What about Pepper? Stark Industries? When will I get home again? Can’t you send a letter beforehand? Or an E-mail, really, it’s not that difficult.”

Okay so, maybe Tony was a bit pissed. And his chest hurt. Not his fault when Thor was being rude and just –

“It will kill you,” Thor informed him bluntly. “Within a few days. Your body is mortal, it is frail and cannot withstand the will of the Aether. I - we can help you on Asgard.”

“Can you?” Maybe Tony didn’t want to die. But really, he was the asshole, wasn’t a prince supposed to have manners and all that? Then again, Loki had just invaded New York as well without sending a note beforehand. Not true, fully. Still bad manners. Was royalty always this rude? No wonder people had thought it would be for the better to behead them.

Now everybody could be an asshole to anybody and didn’t have to fear to face a lifetime in jail because of it.

“We can, I promise you that.” Thor sounded gentle. “I know this is on a short notice, my friend. But time might not be on our side this time. We have to make haste-“

“Cool.” Tony sighed. “Just, let me call Pepper beforehand so she knows I’m on a vacation. Or the rest of the misfits, we wouldn’t want them to come knocking at the door suddenly and then I’m not even here to greet them.”

“Are you speaking of the Avengers?”

Tony raised a brow. _“Ding ding ding,_ it seems as if we have a winner. Congratulations, Lebowski. Now, I need to call Pepper and it might get loud, so hold your ears if you want to keep them whole.”

Thor covered his ears with a confused frown.

He was adorable. A very big, overgrown puppy that really needed more pats, Tony decided. He called Pepper, a smile on his face as he pretended he wasn’t currently dying. Oh wait, he knew the situation already from somewhere.

“Hey Peps,” Tony said as he went straight to the voicemail as he tended to do. The breakup had been pretty ugly, there were some not so beautiful things said because she thought he was taking this too lightly and didn’t seem to be sad about them ending. Not like he’d been crying his eyes out days, maybe even weeks before the realisation settled in but hey – nobody except for him and the bots needed to know that, right?

“I know you’re busy with Stark Industries and – ah wait, _time zones_. You aren’t even awake yet, are you? Nevermind, then my wonderful voice can be the first thing that you hear in the early morning hours. So, Thor dropped by here in England and is going to take me on a trip to Asgard because we found something that needs a thorough investigation. Might take a bit before I’m back. You know how to fake my signature, don’t plunge my company into ruin, I’ll call when I’m home. Take care and make sure Happy is doing well in his job. Oh, and can you tell Platypus? See ya.”

He disconnected the call and felt strangely out of breath.

“Ready to go?” he asked Thor, plastering another grin on his face because Thor looked at him like he was going to faint in the next second. “Actually, can JARVIS come with me?”

“We can try,” Thor said gently. “But I don’t know how your servant works here and it’s a long way to Asgard.”

“Awesome.” Tony heaved a sigh. “J, buddy. Reminder for us to not freak out in the next few days, yeah?”

_“Of course, Sir. Good luck.”_

Tony patted his phone and then looked back up to Thor. “Now we can go.”

“Hold tight,” Thor said, and then they were off, and Tony closed his eyes in all the shooting bright light, regretting that he hadn’t put his sunglasses back on again.

That’s what happened when you flew drunk to England and still tipsy now as they made their way to Asgard.

) ‡ (

Asgard was… gold. Tony blinked a few times in light of the eternal realm which apparently had to compensate for something. “_Sweet_,” he croaked out.

“Welcome to my home, Tony Stark.”

“Thanks, buddy.” Tony nodded and gently eased his arm out of Thor’s hold. He could stand on his –

Red pain.

It was like someone had set his nerves on fire, his heart, and Tony swore he felt the metal shards inside of him moving. That shouldn’t be possible, he cursed as more anguish raced through him, slowly spreading out inside of him. This was not good, not at all. Sweat, born of angst and fear was forming on his forehead and the floor he was standing on suddenly felt not so solid anymore.

“Thor-“

“We must make haste-“

_Yeah, no shit, Sherlock._ Tony squeezed his eyes shut but as another rumbling voice answered, he realised that Thor hadn’t spoken to him in the first place. Apparently, that captured by the magnificence of Asgard in front of him, he’d missed someone else in this glorious golden room.

“I’m sorry,” Thor said somewhere around him but Tony couldn’t care. The electrical shock – because fuck, that’s what this had been – stopped and his stomach began revolting. Alcohol didn’t like electricity, who’d have thought. Not him, never. “I advise you close your eyes.”

And then Thor was grabbing him around the waist – mistake, mistakes are being made – and then he was _flyiiiing_ –

Wind was howling around his ears and Tony was thinking how high the possibility was of Mjolnir hitting his face when Thor wasn’t looking and his grip was slipping and –

Yeah, that had a soothing effect on him. Hammer, face, smash, no more bothering with electric bolts grilling him and turning him into barbeque.

They landed softly and Tony didn’t really feel any better, his stomach churning and informing him a restroom would be a good idea.

“Bathroom,” he squeezed out, eyes still shut.

“Are you unwell, my friend?”

_“Bathroom!_”

) ‡ (

Afterwards, Thor gave Tony something to drink that smelled like an antiseptic, straight from a hospital. Gruesome. But considering Tony had just vomited he thought he was going to be nice and drink that thing without further complaint. It was like a punch to his head, his senses were clearing and he blinked in the golden light, flabbergasted.

“Thor, what was that?”

“Something against hangovers,” Thor said quietly. “I didn’t know you were suffering from that, my friend.”

“I usually am.” Tony shrugged, feeling lighter and his head was clearer for the first time in days. His chest was still aching, even when it was less than before. “Thanks, man.”

“You’re welcome.” Thor looked at him with worried eyes and Tony felt bad. “Can I ask-“

“It’s not all been nice and peachy since you left,” Tony pressed out, refusing to think of Pepper and her voicemail. “Let’s not – just, let’s not talk about it, yeah?”

“Of course. But if you want someone to talk to, I’m here.”

Tony inclined his head slightly. He didn’t feel like talking about what had happened, not to anybody. Bad breakups were a thing everybody went through at some point, correct? No need to cry about it. Tony swallowed and straightened his back. “So, you wanted to get that –“

“Aether,” Thor threw in.

“-out of me, correct?” Tony continued, pleased he didn’t have to butcher the name. Although Aether wasn’t that difficult. Just not so easy when you heard it busted.

Thor nodded and led him down a corridor and then another one. He was a silent teddy bear and Tony didn’t like that at all. Thor was supposed to be a beaming teddy bear, wasn’t he?

“So, how are you doing?” he asked to break the veil of polite silence. There was nothing better than to do simple chattering, usually that method never went amiss.

“The Nine Reals are in an uproar,” Thor replied absently. “As soon as Loki had been judged, I went and fought the rebellion in the other realms. They think they can get away with –“ Thor broke off and sent Tony a smile. “It hasn’t been easy here either.”

“Yeah,” Tony drawled, his thoughts racing. “Sounds like you’ve been busy, big man.”

Thor nodded and then, to Tony’s immense relief, started to talk to him about the paintings and the architecture. Normally that wasn’t something he was overly interested in but he didn’t feel like talking. There was – well, it was one thing to have Thor on the team and forget what it meant to have an alien on his side and what he was probably thinking about everything, another matter entirely when he was in his home.

Fighting the rebellion in other realms. That didn’t sound ominous at all, right? Well, that sounded like people being unhappy with their government. And when Thor said other realms, that implied that –

He chose not to think further about it anymore. Those were not _his_ problem. Asgard was its own peculiarity, he had no right to criticise Thor, did he? And it was not like Tony could do anything either, he hadn’t yet figured out how to travel from realm to realm. Unless he stole blueprints of the Bifröst or something like that, he was doomed to stay on Earth and maybe go to see the moon.

There was another corridor, a few stairs up and Tony was starting to wonder how Thor didn’t get lost here. It was like the Shire, just with less hills and less green, more corridors and stairs instead. Oh, and columns, of course_. Couldn’t forget about those._

But eventually they arrived in the Hospital wing. It smelled very soothing in there, not like a sterilised room where someone was expected to die within the next few hours. Tony didn’t like hospitals, they felt wrong and people were… nice? Sometimes, but the food sucked.

“_Eir_,” Thor called out– then he introduced Tony as soon as a woman with a stern face swept into the room, her eyes focused on the red bolts on his chest. “This is Anthony Stark, one of my shield brothers on Midgard.”

“You are the one with the Aether inside of you?” She asked him, cutting straight to the point.

Tony liked her.

“Yep. Looks pretty, doesn’t it?” He winked at her, earning a low chuckle.

“I wouldn’t call it pretty,” she said but there was a smile pulling at her lips. “Come, I need to take a look at you. See where the Aether has already festered and where not.”

She led him towards another room – honestly how many of those were there? – and Thor was following straight after then, carrying a worried expression.

“The soulforge,” Eir started to explain the machine. “It will see what’s inside you and then project it for us to see.”

“X Radiation with holograms,” Tony mumbled. “Do I need to take my clothes off?”

“No.” Eir looked at him confused. “Why ever would you do that? It will not scan your clothes, only you.”

Tony shrugged, giving a point for that to Asgard. He had to figure out how they did that, and how he could reduplicate that on Earth. Asgard couldn’t stay on top of all things forever.

He laid down on the metallic bed, the surface glowing white and –

“That’s not going to mess with my arc reactor, will it?”

“I’m sorry?”

“No, my friend,” Thor spoke up. “It will not.”

“Oh. Good to know.” Tony smiled at him, not feeling very reassured at all. “It’s a metallic core,” he explained to Eir because she’d been nice to him. “Keeps metal shards away from my heart. I’d be pretty much dead without it.”

Eir started to frown. “Maybe,” she said slowly, “it would be better if you take off your shirt first. I have to know what it is for a better result on the soulforge.”

“Sure.” Tony’s mouth twitched as he sat up, pulling off his shirt in one go as well. “Ah.” He looked down at his chest. There was the arc reactor, glowing in a dimmed blue, small red bolts of energy dancing above it and where they had hit skin before, were now strange red lines appearing. Almost like with his palladium poisoning, just red.

“I assume,” Eir said slowly, “that this is new?”

“You could say so.” Tony cleared his throat. “I’m normally a bit less decorated there.”

Eir nodded slowly and raised a hand. “Can I take a look at it? I would run a simple diagnostic spell, to see if the Aether is inside of you-“

“Oh, it is.” Tony shrugged. “I mean, where else should it be that makes my arc reactor spit bolts, right?” He snorted softly, feeling strangely vulnerable with Thor and Eir’s eyes on him. He had to fight the urge to cover his chest and the arc reactor, thinking of Stane and how he’d looked at him as well, piercing eyes made of greed and want.

“I have to see if the soulforge will affect you in any way,” she gently reminded him and with that, Tony let her touch his reactor. There were few sparks of gold and fucking hell, magic, really? “Lie down on the forge,” she eventually said and drew back, gesturing for him to do as she bid. Apparently, it was safe, or so he hoped.

Tony drew in a deep breath, feeling somehow safer with more distance between them again. Without further talking he laid down on the forge and Eir seemed to touch spots in the air, flicked her hand –

Orange dust appeared above him, forming lines in the air. Tony felt his eyes go wide at the sight. Okay, so he definitely hadn’t expected that. Eir turned another wheel and then, an imprint of himself rose and oh yep –

There was a blue glowing light in the middle of his chest, and the Aether was floating inside of it and around, slowly spreading.

“I was wrong,” Tony said in the silence of the room. “Not X-Ray. That’s a quantum field generator. Thor, I’m _hurt!_”

“That’s an unusual amount of energy." Eir frowned at the imprint of Tony. “Even with your reactor taken into consideration-“ she became silent.

“Eir?” Thor asked quietly.

“I’m sorry, my prince,” she offered gently and looked down at Tony. “But I’m not sure if I can help you. This is not my area of expertise.”

Somehow that didn’t come to Tony as a surprise. He nodded along as Eir explained what exactly the Aether was doing to him – sucking his energy and destroying him from the inside out, like a hostile parasite living through him. Tony started to feel nothing as she continued to talk, Thor gave possible answers on how to cure him and get the Aether out but –

“If we remove the Aether we will most likely kill him in the process.”

Yeah. That. Tony sat up and looked at the image of himself floating above, orange and red, the few sparkles of blue and his chest started to hurt again.

“And it’s feeding first and foremost from his reactor.”

“Awesome,” Tony said lightly. “I’ve always wanted to play energy host for Gamma rays. I should have given this thing to Bruce, I promise you that would have been fun to see the results of. Gamma Radiation inside of the Gamma-Man, what horrible can happen, right?”

Thor did not seem to appreciate his humour and sent him disapproving looks. He reminded Tony of Steve which was, not so nice either, come to think of it.

And while Tony was running through ideas in his mind how to get the Aether out of him – Gamma-Particle absorber? – Thor’s dad stormed the room. Because of course, it did have to be Odin. Nobody else looked that regal or majestically with one eye only.

“What is a _mortal_ doing here, Thor?”

“He’s one of my shield brothers on Midgard, father.” Thor inclined his head slightly and Tony felt his eyebrows shooting up. Ah nice? “Heimdall told me he was in a precarious situation and I feared for his life – rightly so.”

Tony waved at Odin as the one remaining eye stopped on him and took him under close observation.

“You are the one they call _Iron Man_?”

“Yes. Nice to meet you.” Tony nodded at Odin, his hands staying at his sides. He didn’t like to shake people’s hands, and no, he would not make an exception for the king of Asgard either.

“Likewise.” Odin’s eye wandered up, over the image of Tony, then back down to him again. “How did you find the Aether?”

“I’ve been keeping an eye out for increased spikes of Gamma-Radiation,” Tony started to explain. “After all, that was how we located Loki and since those Chitauri are probably still out there, I decided to keep an eye out.”

Odin looked at him with a blank expression, not appreciating the effort Tony had put in his pun. No wonder Thor was so radiating with joy when his dad was so happy all the time. Really, Tony started to get the feeling he was looking at a portrayal of Howard and he’d been in Odin’s pleasant company for only a few minutes.

“The Chitauri are dead.”

“Are they?” Tony tilted his head. “I doubt that.”

“Why would you think that?” Odin nodded at Eir, dismissing her easily.

“Because only an idiot sends all of his fleet at once.” Tony reached for his reactor, remembering the clink as Loki had put his sceptre to it and –

“It doesn’t make sense,” he mumbled and patted his best part.

“Tony?”

“How come that when Loki tried to mind-control me, it did not work because of my arc reactor, but it’s not doing anything to stop the Aether at all?”

Silence. Thor looked at him in shock like he couldn’t believe what he’d heard and maybe Tony had neglected to mention that part before, yes. But Odin’s gaze turned speculative.

“Loki tried to influence your mind?”

“Yes. With his sceptre. Quite sure it was the stone in there what did the taking over, Clint said so and I’m inclined to believe him.” Tony shrugged. “Which opens up the question of how the Aether is now inside of me?”

“I can’t answer this,” Thor said quietly. “I’m sorry my friend, I thought we could help you here on Asgard.”

“Not your fault, buddy.”

“Thor, your mother was looking for you earlier,” Odin suddenly said. “Please go and find her. I will make sure to take care of your friend in the meantime.”

And that sounded only a tiny little bit ominous and suspicious but hey –

Tony figured he couldn’t go and refuse the king, Pepper might want his head later when he was back on Earth for dying because he offended Odin.

“You said that Loki had a sceptre with him?” Odin asked him as they wandered through the golden halls, Tony feeling strangely weak in the knees and a few red bolts were jumping on his chest.

“Yes. Blue stone.”

Odin nodded but remained silent. “A long time ago the Aether belonged to the Dark Elves,” he began, “an old enemy of Asgard who we thought were gone but you having the Infinity Stone, this cannot mean anything good. And I’m inclined to believe that there is more to this than we can see in this moment.”

“Yes?”

Odin went on, his voice carrying easily through the palace and Tony wanted Thor by his side. If that made sense. Odin gave off some creepy vibes and he was a bit imposing; the way he carried himself oozed with confidence and authority. It reminded Tony less of Thor than he liked, he saw Loki in the walk. The knowledge that they could slay their enemy or whoever was on the opposite side within seconds, with no bigger fight, it determined how they walked and presented themselves to the world outside.

Tony was sure that either of them would be a nightmare in an airport – they’d be stopped at every possible minute for a short check through for possible bombs.

“Eir has no expertise in this area and my wife might know more.” Odin stopped and Tony stopped abruptly too. “But she also might not.” His blue eye rested heavily on Tony who held it unflinchingly.

“Thor will plan something to aid you in the removal of the Aether. That, I am sure of. He will not stand for losing another brother.”

“That’s nice of him?”

“There might be another way.”

“I’m always open to other possibilities, so long as I don’t die in the end.”

“Which will remain open. He has a bit of a temper these days.” Odin opened a door to his right and gestured for Tony to go through it.

The room was cold, dust was starting to collect on surfaces and it looked like nobody had been in here for a long time. Tony let his gaze further run through the room; books were lining up on the walls, a few swords were decorating the place above an old chimney and there were even more books on the desk close to the grand window.

The question, “Whose room is this?” was already on the tip of Tony’s tongue and burned him with its intensity. Then he saw the colours of the room and there were probably a few more people who liked green but –

The sheets on the bed were dark green, the pillows as well, even with a few golden ones in between. The room was dark golden, green accents here and there. It screamed “_Loki_” in a very subtle way, Tony had to admit that.

“What are you trying to do, Odin?” he asked quietly, aware of the door snapping shut behind them.

“Loki’s rooms are shielded from Heimdall’s eyes.”

Tony whipped around as the voice which used to be Odin’s, now sounded soft, warm, and feminine. And of course, it wasn’t Odin behind him anymore.

“The formerly mentioned wife, I guess?” Tony croaked out.

“Yes. You can call me Frigga.” She chuckled and held out a hand. “I am sorry for deceiving you so, Anthony Stark but I feared that with Thor in the room, the conversation would have taken a darker turn.”

“Nice to meet you.” Tony shook her warm hand.

“I can stop the Aether for a while to take more energy from you,” Frigga said quietly. “But I did not lie when I said this is not my expertise.”

“I guess that it is Loki’s?” Tony nodded at the room. “Considering that we’re here in his room now.”

She nodded. “If you’re wearing the Reality Stone in you, Thor brought us back the Space Stone and Loki carried the Mind stone –“

“The what, the what and the what?” Tony leant forward. “I feel like you’re withholding information there, my lady.”

“There are six of them. Space, Reality, Power, Soul, Mind and Time. They all control and represent an essential aspect of existence in the universe. They got scattered through all the realms, in the hope they are watched over and will never be brought together. We had three stones in the span of less than two years, Tony Stark. This is troubling and smells of bad omens.”

Tony guessed that was fair.

“And you and my Loki are always in the epicentre of the upcoming storm.” Frigga shook her head softly. “I need you both to work together and save the Nine Realms from what is to come.”

“… _All right_?”

“I’ve brought you here because Odin is thus far unaware of your presence here. Heimdall has allied himself to Thor over you and will say nothing, and –“

“Thor thinks his dad knows.” Tony started to chuckle. “I like you.”

“Thank you,” Frigga replied dryly. “I’ll have Loki brought up here if you’re agreeable, so that you may talk to him.”

“Sure,” Tony said. “Why not? But he better not throw me out of a window again.”

“I’ll tell him to keep you inside of the rooms.”

“_Awesome._”

Tony kind of wanted his hangover back.

) ‡ (

After they had sent Loki back to Asgard, Tony hadn’t wasted a further thought on the trickster. Out of sight, out of mind and all that jazz. He’d been happy with that, knowing Thor would take care of the rest and all Tony was going to do was show Bruce around in the Tower for real, become real science bros.

It had been nice for a bit but unlike Tony, Bruce really needed his hours where he was alone and could relax and while Tony could do that with someone in the lab, Bruce started to feel stressed out either way. That was _fine_.

Didn’t mean it hurt any less when Bruce told him he was going to leave and find another accommodation and come back in between because he started to feel trapped in the Tower. Fair point. And yet it was like a solid punch in the gut.

When everything started to feel like it was going to turn for the better, of course that was when everything had to turn bad again. The Avengers, an idea, shattered through America and the rest of the globe and one member not even on Earth anymore but elsewhere. Pepper, his rock, left as well and it felt like all the ground was starting to shake and crumble beneath Tony’s feet, about to swallow him up and make him disappear.

He was sitting on a chair in Loki’s room, a mug of coffee in his hands that Frigga had given to him before she’d disappeared with a mysterious smile and in Odin’s skin again. Unlike Loki, her magic was golden and looked warm – less green even when they both seemed to be skilled at appearing as other people. It made Tony want to scan her, to see what made her magic up and how he could translate it into science to make it work for himself.

His heart was hurting and his chest felt numb with all the small electric jolts he was allowed to bear thanks to the Aether. JARVIS didn’t work on Asgard and Tony felt even more lonely as he was sitting here and waiting for Frigga to come back.

Tony Stark did not wait for anybody. Usually, it was the other way around. But it looked like it really was that way, huh? He opened a book but closed it a few moments later; he couldn’t read runes. A shame. That could have been useful now, but he’d never been interested overly in languages that would never be helpful to him. French, yes, had often saved his ass too.

Time went by and the coffee slowly turned cold because Tony found he couldn’t drink a lot as he got increasingly nervous. Thor was out there somewhere, thinking Tony was with his dad who was somewhere and well, he was about to be a bad, bad boy, wasn’t he?

He didn’t think that Frigga getting Loki out of prison for a short visit was in any way legal or not treason.

Right, didn’t he want earlier not to be beheaded by Pepper when he went back? The one thing that consoled Tony in the dusty room which felt more dead than alive was that the likelihood of him going back at all had reduced dramatically. Hopefully his lawyers would find his most recent last will and testament, and not the embarrassing one he’d been forced to write when he was 18, where he’d left everything to Obadiah because –

Well, “_No!_” did seem to cover it.

Tony was so deep into his musings that he didn’t realise at first when the door opened and Frigga and her prodigal son strode inside, in a very regal and composed way of course.

“You look even more horrible than when we last met,” Tony stated matter of fact as he took in Loki’s appearance.

“Loki!” Frigga shot her son a disappointed look and Tony felt like that was a bit undeserved. It couldn’t be Loki’s fault that there was blood running down his face, surely?

At least, that was what he thought. Then the bastard chuckled and did some hand wavey magic, and then suddenly looked …

Not so horrible anymore.

Tony blinked. The hair looked soft and there was a healthy glow to Loki’s skin, it didn’t look like he was going to keel over any minute anymore. Was it ironic that prison seemed to have done him lots of good?

“Good thing I spared myself the worry,” Tony said. “For a moment I thought you were going to die on the spot.”

“A tragedy, for I would’ve liked to see your face twisted in concern,” Loki replied smoothly and his hands were twitching in the shackles. “Tony Stark, the great hero of Midgard, worried for his_ foe_.”

“_Exactly_. It’s not every day I get to see you, I really should appreciate the time I have with you more.”

Loki nodded wisely, a small smirk playing on his lips.

And Tony? He wanted to hit himself in the face because what, in Stephen Colbert’s name, was he doing?

“Indeed.” Tony’s finger thrummed nervously on the arc reactor, unfortunately directing Loki’s attention to it.

“Tony,” Frigga cut them both off, worry written over her face. “I have placed an illusion into Loki’s cell which will satisfy the guard for now. Heimdall doesn’t seem to have noticed anything but we need to make haste.” Her eyes were tightened by distress and a strand of her hair got loose from the tight bun on the back of her head.

Right. He was here for a reason after all. “You remember when you tried to turn me into a second Barton?”

Loki’s face twitched barely at that. “I do, yes.”

“I’m sure you’ve noticed already that my chest is trying its best at doing a Thor impression.”

Loki’s hands twitched at the mention of Thor’s name but a fleeting touch of Frigga’s fingers on the thin green material at Loki’s elbow was enough to cause him to still, his green eyes shooting poisonous darts at her hand.

Family drama, happening right in front of Tony’s eyes. _Awesome_. There he was on Asgard, getting his energy sucked dry like a victim of a vampire and Loki looked like he was ready to be another Dracula. The outfit didn’t fit so well because he looked more like a tamed kitten than a fearsome vampire, but still, Tony did not think it made the Asgardian any less dangerous.

“The Aether is sitting inside of my reactor,” Tony told him cooly, getting fed up with the situation. “Something which I had thought was not possible since you failed with the sceptre; so why is another Infinity Stone inside of me now? And if possible, how do I stop it from making me die?”

Loki reeled back like slapped in the face. “An _Infinity Stone?_” he hissed under his breath.

“Yes. That’s what your mom said.”

“And you bring that here?”

“Thor brought me here.” There was this telling twitch again and Tony couldn’t keep his mouth shut. “Apparently he keeps an eye on his shield-brothers.” Another. Oh, this was _glorious._ A deep and dark satisfaction was pooling in Tony as he saw Loki fighting to keep his composure, the struggle vicious and written all over him in the tense lines of his shoulders. “I hope you and Thor used the time to reconcile.”

The next thing he saw was a blur of green racing towards him, a pitiful long shadow of malice and Tony sent a last prayer.

“Loki!” he could hear Frigga and then his back was hitting the –

Dust whirled up, green was above him like a noose strangling him with their proximity. Tony felt small particles invading his already damaged lungs, scratching him and a cough was crawling up his throat along with fear. He wondered where Frigga was now, as her son was straddling him and eyeing him like a piece of meat, about to be eaten alive and ripped apart in the gruesome process.

Then, the smell hit him. Foul, and like a mushroom that got left alone for too long in the fridge, malodorous and vitriolic the more Tony breathed in.

_Was that Loki?_

“Didn’t you get a bath in the dungeon?” he gasped and almost regretted saying something as the repellent smell seemed to engulf him in an eager embrace. Loki paled upon hearing that, the hand on Tony’s chest where he’d shoved him backwards twitching and a second later, a new scent hit Tony.

He breathed in, expecting to die of abhorrence of the scent again, but there was no such thing. Instead, a flowery, fresh aroma was stroking around his nose. Air, his mind gasped along with him and while red bolts were jumping around his chest in a greater number. Air. Had he been dying before from Asgard’s air?

“Don’t act like you were dying,” Loki hissed at him, his voice as sharp as one of his knives.

“Oh,_ I was._” Tony threw him a grin, feeling still off balance from the trickster crouching above him like a predator but he was done with playing coy prey. “Thank you, for letting me breathe.”

There was a tight pinch at Loki’s mouth and he averted his eyes, a subtle rosé blush rising in the otherwise pale cheeks; life returning in spring to the nature, shooing winter away.

Loki stayed silent, just as if to prove Tony’s expectations about him wrong. He thought a quip would be the next thing, and they’d pick their banter up before they could proceed as Frigga had wanted them but –

Loki swallowed loudly and his brows furrowed, his eyes everywhere but where they could catch Tony’s on accident.

If he didn’t know any better then he’d say Loki was feeling embarrassed at Tony’s remarks.

He wondered why, his mind working at a quicker speed and then he felt like an asshole. There was _of course_ a high possibility that Loki smelled because he didn’t get to shower because some prisons apparently weren’t that human to their inmates. Tony should know better. The Ten Rings hadn’t let him go to shower every day either, if he’d been lucky, then once a week. He’d seen the washing room more often than the cold showerheads and even then, he almost had preferred not to bath because –

Memories were a bitch, right? As was PTSD, as it turned out.

Tony swallowed, went for a distraction tactic. It was a small wonder he was still alive and that neither Frigga nor Loki had killed him. “So, since you’re already up close with my arc reactor, wanna tell me how I get out of here alive or am I supposed to serve as a vessel for the Aether?”

The Trickster above him shifted, and his hand hovered above the red bolts. The chains were noisy as Loki moved them.

“I can’t work like this, Frigga,” he said in the silence of the room.

“Can I trust you not to bolt the moment I take the shackles off?” She asked quietly, and Tony heard her coming closer.

“No.”

“Then I fear, you have to use your brain, Loki. Don’t rely entirely on your seiðr.”

“Sorry but weren’t you using your magic just then?” Tony threw a look at Loki. “Isn’t that kind of contradicting the usage-“

“The chains,” Loki interrupted him and there was a mean look on his face, “block most of my seiðr. What I can do with them on are illusions, Stark. So _no_, I’m not smelling any _better_ either. I just let you think that I do.” He huffed some air at Tony who cringed now knowing he was smelling foul eggs and not any fresh flowers.

Ah well. He deserved that, probably.

Sometimes Tony was a real jerk without intending to be one – okay, admittedly, he had tried to get a raise out of Loki because –

Yeah, because why? Tony didn’t know for sure himself; sometimes his mouth just ran away on him and he stared after it, eyes wide like a plate and a veil of ash was placed on the hole which used to be his mouth, choking him with grey particles until he was nothing but dust. As he should be.

Loki’s hand was running over Tony’s chest in quick movements, trying to avoid the red bolts which seemed intent on attacking Loki. Tony simply laid there and tried to fight down any possible panic attack because enemy crouching over him, hand on arc reactor; yeah, that was the stuff his nightmares were made of, usually. _Tonight,_ he decided, _he would need alcohol._

His vision started to blacken as Loki was cursing, a cold furnace above him. This was not, definitely not what Tony had in mind when he went with Thor.

“The Aether will not budge,” Loki eventually said and it took all the restraint Tony had not to scuff at that. “It likes you, Stark. For reasons I cannot understand, it wants to stay with you.”

“Lovely,” Tony said in a voice which betrayed how not lovely he thought this was.

“Indeed.” Loki searched his eyes for something and then jumped off him, like a spring coiled tight and finally released. “I hope you wrote your last will because I don’t see a way how you will survive this,” he declared then without any passion in his voice.

“Loki!” Frigga hissed.

Tony simply arched a brow at that and sat up. “Next time, you will not end up on top.”

“You still owe me a drink, Stark.” Loki’s chuckle was bitter. “Don’t think I have forgotten about that promise.”

_A drink?_

As Frigga spoke to her son quietly in hurried tones, her forehead pinched in unhappy lines that betrayed her worry and anger, Tony found himself pondering Loki’s words. Had there ever been a promise of a drink?

He rewound their conversation, but nothing from today had been about a drink.

Then, Tony slapped a hand to his face as he realised what drink Loki meant; the one from where Tony had thought of stalling Loki in his penthouse as aliens tried to obliterate his planet. That Loki remembered that, spoke volumes of his imprisonment, Tony thought. He had forgotten about the drink, just a small detail in a bigger picture. But –

For all that he knew, it was the last day Loki had been free and if Thor truly had not visited his brother, was it really such a wonder that Loki clung to words, muttered in an hour of desperation and anguish? He felt, out of all things, _pity_ for the fallen prince who was going back to his cell, especially as he saw Loki cast a last, wistful glance over his room before he disappeared from Tony’s sight.

He wondered how that must feel, to be freed from your prison by your own mother, to see someone who had arrested you in your own rooms and then, after being denied a further taste of freedom, led back to where he came from.

) ‡ (

“So,” Tony said when Frigga came back, exhaustion written all over her expression, her eyes red. “That went well, didn’t it?”

She sent him a smile, her eyes full of grief as they settled on his chest.

Somehow, Tony doubted that he would survive for much longer.

Not that the revelation was anything new.

) ‡ (

Thor found him a few hours later while Tony was sitting outside in the sun, admiring the market below with a book about Asgardian technology in his lap. Frigga had put a spell on it so that he could read it, the runes now the good ol’ letters Tony was familiar with.

It was fascinatingly boring. Tony stifled a yawn or five and was glad when Thor finally interrupted him his musings.

“Did you like the book?”

Tony decided to be nice, for a change. “It was fascinating.”

Thor beamed at him like he’d congratulated him on a drawing that he was extremely proud of.

“Good.”

Tony nodded, set the book aside and then, well, then he didn’t know what to do. “So, this is your home?” he asked instead.

“Yes.” Thor got a dreamy look in his eyes and his whole stance softened. Wind was blowing through his hair and he looked like Disney prince, Tony thought with a bitter taste of sweetness. Margarita, Tony decided. Thor was a Margarita. Then he descended into a tirade about how amazing and perfect Asgard was and Tony, well, he felt a bit like vomiting.

Loki’s smell would not leave his nose and, that Thor was here, not knowing Tony had seen his brother while Thor hadn’t? It lit a small spark of red vitriol inside of him. He knew how it felt to be abandoned, forgotten, and cast aside and really, he was no family therapist but that what Thor was doing was wrong was so obvious that it hurt Tony.

The Aether was still inside of him, eating him up and Thor talked about how many Bilgesnipe he’d killed in the forest over there, how great his friends were and what good shield-brothers they were to him. And Tony heard a clock ticking, quicker by the minute and he refused to acknowledge the aching tiredness in his limbs.

“Thor.” His voice sounded weary. He ran a hand over his face, and then tried to comb a few loose strands of his hair away as he looked at his friend. “The Aether is still inside of me.”

Thor turned sombre in an instant. “Father has found no cure?”

“No.” Neither did your brother. Tony didn’t want to die on Asgard. He actually didn’t want to die at all. Even when life was as shit as it was right now, there was no need to go already.

“Come,” Thor said, holding out a hand. “We must speak of something Heimdall told me which leaves me with troubled feelings.”

“Oh, sure.” Tony stood up, ignoring the offered hand as he did so. “Love to talk about problems all the time, Point Break.”

That was a big fat lie.

Tony blamed having been in Loki’s presence for that.

) ‡ (

As they walked through Asgard’s halls, the gold slowly eating Tony up as well as the red – really, fate must’ve been out to get him, that wasn’t funny anymore – Thor talked to him about the Convergence and about the great battles of old with the Dark Elves.

Tony felt like he was listening to an audiobook by Tolkien; Dark Elves with their own language, Light Elves apparently existed too and really, the golden guys were the good ones, their eternal duty to preserve the Nine Realms a holy task bestowed upon them or something like that.

Sometimes, red mist danced around his fingers and he hoped Thor didn’t notice. Tony wanted to be spared any further pitying glances and it felt sort of cool. Shooting bolts of lightning from his hands, that was.

And thinking of it, Tony had known something was wrong because nothing ever stays as miserable as it was, it only ever could become worse because this was him he was talking about. Not to sound narcissistic but a Tony Stark was never content with a single source of misery alone. There always needed to be two, tops.

So when the palace started to shake and Thor’s eyes went wide, Tony knew misery number two had arrived.

“I’ll take care of you,” Frigga, yes _Frigga_, spoke hurriedly, appearing out of nowhere, taking Tony’s hand and then dragging him along with her.

Good thing that Tony knew how to keep up with people who had long legs.

) ‡ (

Maybe a quarter hour later Tony closed his eyes in grief as Thor screamed in rage and horror.

There was no mischief to be found anymore in Frigga’s lifeless eyes and there never would be again.

_Don’t waste your life_, Yinsen had asked him and Tony simply stood there, too overwhelmed by sorrow to do anything and wondered how many more would have to die because he was too weak.

) ‡ (

He hadn’t known Frigga for long – out of all the assembled Asgardians, Tony was the one who knew her the least. And yet, she’d tried to trick Malekith so that he could be safe. He’d tried his best but – same as it had been with Loki in the Tower, he was no match for an otherworldly being and had been flung aside carelessly when he’d jumped the Dark Elf from behind.

Frigga had saved him.

The Aether was thrumming inside of him, red and intense and orange fire was lighting up the dark sea in front of them.

White orbs were slowly released into the dark of the night and for all the angry grief painted over the shadows under deep eyes, the ceremony was a portrayal of fine art. It spent hope and the desire for revenge; but that would come tomorrow.

Tony stayed with Thor as most people left, a quiet companion who listened to Thor as his voice broke the night with stories of his mother.

And when Thor’s voice ran dry and hoarse, Tony took over and shared stories of his own mother.

He only realised later that Loki hadn’t been at the funeral.

) ‡ (

Tony learnt of Thor’s mad plan for revenge in the shadow of a dusky bar and he promised silently to Pepper, as Thor outlined his brilliant plan, that he would apologise for being sentenced to death for treason.

At least Asgard’s mead was some fantastic stuff.

“I need my armour,” Tony told Thor in simple terms before looking to Heimdall. That guy was the one who had control over the Bifröst, after all.

“Odin forbade the use of it.”

_“Lovely.”_

Tony would make sure to mention Odin and Asgard’s hostility towards technology when he was back home. This was getting really inconvenient as time processed. Looked like he had to trust himself with a knife or five.

) ‡ (

“Loki is not to be trusted,” Sif said while they were waiting in the golden hallway a day later. Tony had barely slept, the beds in Asgard’s golden palace weren’t the most comfortable ones – a lie but Tony was used to his mattress so much that strange ones were alien to him.

“No, really?” Tony turned to her with an arched brow. “Who’d have thought.”

“I’m not jesting, mortal.”

“That’s okay, I have enough funny for us both.” He winked at her. Did Sif think he was stupid? He’d fought Loki before, while she hadn’t as far as he knew.

It was the blond guy who held sleeping beauty back from probably killing him. Tony couldn’t but compare her in his mind to Clint, both prone to anger outbursts and aggression while trying to be stern. No, that actually was Hill, not Clint. The archer was the funny guy, just after Tony who of course was the funniest one.

“I’m sorry if I hit a nerve,” Tony said with an amused tilt to his lips. “Is there any way to make it up to you?” He dropped his voice into a seductive purr, just to see if she was going to fall for it. It was entertaining to see how her pupils dilated and a blush rose in her cheeks. Then, she visibly drew back and shot him a venomous glare.

He hummed under his breath, rocked back and forth on his toes as they waited for Thor and his mischievous brother.

Who probably still hadn’t been able to have a shower.

Tony ignored the tiny feeling in his gut that smelled strongly of pity and compassion, choosing instead to take a closer look at the ceiling. It had survived the attack of the Dark Elves well, there was barely any damage to see on it, but for the spaceship that had been left behind. Tony’s fingers were itching to touch it and to get to see how it worked.

Might be dangerous, come to think of it. But the Aether was still sucking up his energy and had tried to kill him so Tony considered the danger of touching the ship a lesser concern.

“He’s got that look in his eyes,” Volstagg muttered.

“What look?” Sif attempted to whisper.

Tony pretended not to listen and kept staring at the ship. There was a chance that Thor’s friends thought he couldn’t hear them well, and he would do his absolute best not to deter them from that misconception.

“The one _Loki_ had when there was something that caught his interest.”

_Loki._ Tony winced at that but kept staring at the ship.

“Are we sure we can trust Thor around him?”

Tony rolled his eyes. _Wasn’t it a bit too late to ask these kinds of questions anyway?_

“They’re coming,” he said flatly when he saw Thor walking up to them, Loki trailing at his side, a grin on his face.

Not that Tony could see it to be sure, but he could be pretty sure the Trickster was wearing one.

“Are we ready?” Thor asked, and Tony thought he could hear a tinge of annoyance in his voice. Not that he didn’t understand that, Loki was just so … giddy, one might say.

“Hello, Anthony,” Loki purred and leant forward. His bound hands rose and he gave a cheeky little wave. “Haven’t seen you in a while.”

”Yeah. I missed you too, Reindeer Games.” Tony allowed himself to take a deep sniff. “You smell better.” He really couldn’t just let it be, could he?

“I made myself pretty, just for you.” Loki tilted his head and gave him a splendiferous smile. “We can’t have you leaving Asgard thinking all of us to be rude barbarians, can we? Not after you’ve been forced to endure the company of Thor’s idiotic Four. Did they tell you yet that –”

Tony snorted and Sif – because who else – held a knife under Loki’s chin and threatened him. It wasn’t necessary in Tony’s opinion because they needed Loki so that they could get away from Asgard so the point she was trying to make was moot. Loki’s flippant answer told him the Trickster knew exactly that and let her look more like a fool than a serious threat.

Then again, if you were sentenced to a lifetime in jail, you probably didn’t think of threats in the same way as before.

There was something about this situation that rubbed Tony the wrong way but he couldn’t put his finger on it, only frown and try to decipher what it was and -

“Ah, I can hear the Einherjar.” Loki nodded toward the warriors who stormed in. “I think the time is prudent to leave.”

“Are you sure?” Tony replied dryly. “I wanted to ask them for an autograph.”

“Why do you wish to have theirs, when I want yours?” Loki pouted at him. “Really, Anthony, I crave your-“

_“LOKI!”_

“Yes, Thor?” Loki sent another magnificent smile Thor’s way.

Tony didn’t know what to make out of Loki’s banter and his cheerful manner but he wasn’t going to complain. It was something amusing and diverting, finally after all that horror. It wasn’t sadness that Tony felt at leaving Asgard, instead it was simply relieving to know he’d soon be back home.

He entered the alien ship – _yes, that one_ – and watched in amusement as Thor tried to get the ship to start. Helpful as he was he stood on Thor’s left side, Loki next to him and they both watched as Thor despaired at so many buttons. It was delightful and Loki’s commentary –

Tony wished he could have JARVIS record this, so much sass. He wiped a tear from his eyes as Loki cheerfully told them Thor had just decapitated his Grandfather. All in all, the commentary was great and Tony felt like this could go on forever and _yes_, this was a serious situation and they’d probably _die_ because Thor was incapable of flying a straight line but he hoped it would be over quickly. The dying, not Loki’s sass. That could go on forever.

And he did look hilarious when Thor threw him out of the ship.

“Is he always like that?” Tony asked Thor, slightly out of breath, red bolts chasing over his chest.

“Loki?” Thor asked.

Tony nodded and a quiet, sombre look crossed Thor’s face. “He used to be like that. Before everything happened. It’s been a long time since I have last seen my brother in such high spirits.”

“How did you even get him to join us?” Tony walked with Thor to the door, the longboat floating just a bit behind them with Loki and Fandral in it.

“I told him he can have his revenge for mother. Afterwards, the cell again.” Thor held out a hand. “Come, we just join them lest Loki throws Fandral off the boat and goes elsewhere.”

If Tony only had a camera with him –

He and Thor would make a pretty picture, arm in arm as they flew down to the boat.

“You tricked me!” Loki accused Thor as soon as they landed.

“He did.” Tony chuckled and patted Loki on the shoulder. The long green shirt felt weird under Tony’s hands, almost as if the material was different than it looked; rougher, coarse, not so fine and soft.

He threw Loki a questioning look but the Trickster only waggled with this fingers. The chains around his wrists rattled cheerfully. Chains. No magic. Which meant –

“Are you only wearing –“

“_Shhh_,” Loki tutted him gently. “Don’t reveal all my tricks, that’s not very nice of you.”

“That’s _not_-”

“It is a _trick_.” Loki patted him on the head, not minding the vicious glare Tony sent his way. “Just not the one Thor expects which is an even greater trick in my opinion, wouldn’t you agree?” There was a whole new smile on Loki’s lips, a dark gloom waiting in his eyes, just challenging Tony to call him out and reveal that he wasn’t wearing his armour.

That he probably still only wore his gown from the dungeon because after all, Loki could only do illusions with the chains on, couldn’t he?

And he was still here with them, out to try and avenge his mother who apparently, had been the only –

Tony felt sick. Fandral left them in an attempt to draw the Einherjar away which he seemed to succeed in, and Tony felt his breath growing shorter.

_I got low. I didn’t see an end, so I put a bullet in my mouth and the other guy spit it out._

Bruce’s voice was resonating loudly in Tony’s mind and red filled his vision, the Aether drinking up too much from him, seemingly growing stronger with every second. He didn’t like Loki, he’d barely wasted a thought on the guy after Thor had taken him back to Asgard. And yet, here he was with him on a boat which was more of a suicide mission than anything else.

Thor had said Loki was returning to his cell after this, hadn’t he? Tony’s breaths were getting shorter by the minute and he wasn’t sure if the cold hands on his shoulders were a fabrication of his own mind or not; the abundant helplessness at this situation surging through him.

His vision was getting redder, only a few black dots dancing in his sight, his breath sharp, clutching skin and seeking warmth._ It made no sense,_ he was not the one who was looking to find a way to die, he was only an unfortunately timed passenger on this ship –

He couldn’t let Loki do that, nobody –

_Had Frigga known?_

Tony could hear faint voices over the loud sound of his ragged breathing, the smell of burnt flesh reaching his nose and he –

That was his chest, wasn’t it? The few contents in his stomach from the small breakfast this morning felt like they were crawling up his oesophagus, worms in his tubes and –

He was sitting here and freaking out over a murderer who more or less had admitted on not planning to survive and fuck –

Tony didn’t ask to be put into this position, he couldn’t take care of someone else, he could barely function on his own but at the same time –

_He was a hero, was he not?_ And maybe Thor was blind or had written Loki off as evil for real and so didn’t see that his friends were threatening his brother but –

Rhodey hadn’t watched quietly either although he didn’t know Tony then. He stepped in and made sure that Tony survived his early days at MIT when big bullies thought he looked better in a toilet and –

He would make sure that Loki got out of this. As he so often did, Tony had no idea how to accomplish that but there would be a way, there would be no stupid kamikaze move on his watch, not for as long as he could prevent it from happening. Maybe the offer of a shower would be enough to have Loki come –

He could take Loki back home with him. Because in that cell, Loki would commit suicide or be sentenced to death this time around; after all Sif had made clear what they were doing here was an act of treason and treason was handled afterwards with a bite of steel to your neck.

A gust of fresh air hit him straight in the face, it smelled foul and of cinnamon at the same time, and Tony’s raging thoughts trickled to a stop.

It was not like someone had switched off the growing panic inside of him; solely blocked it and made sure he could focus on other things first. That was… _interesting_.

He blinked up from his position, noticed Loki’s free hands and the blowing black hair as the Trickster turned around and took over the steering wheel.

“You’re okay, my friend?” Thor asked worriedly and helped him to stand up.

“Yes. _Now_.” He cleared his throat. “I think I didn’t get enough to eat for a while.”

“The Aether is feeding from you faster by the minute,” Loki remarked and circled a mountain lazily. “But since you’re back with us now and hopefully won’t fall over the side of the boat when we pass through the portal, can we proceed?”

_Asshole_, Tony thought, but he had this gnawing suspicion Loki was worried about him; after all, whatever kept his panic attack at bay was not Thor’s feat, but someone else’s. A faint surge of fondness ran through him and he held onto the boat’s sides, peering at the small, like extremely small hole Loki was flying them towards.

“We’re going to fit in there?”

“If we don’t, you’ll notice in a second,” Loki replied dryly but threw him a wink.

“Loki-” Thor started to sound nervous as the boat built up speed.

Tony sighed as the speed picked up, the wind getting colder and Loki was starting to laugh and –

They were definitely going to crash into the mountain. So much for Loki being the better pilot.

) ‡ (

“_Good morning_,” Loki’s amused voice woke him up, crouching above him.

“Morning.” Tony blinked up at him. “Where-”

“Your poor mortal mind didn’t handle the passage through the portal too well, not since your body is already weakened. So you fainted and Thor had to catch you like a swooning maiden. Do you do that often? It looked extremely elegant.”

Tony rolled his eyes. “I practise it every Sunday so that one day, you might catch me.”

“Charmer.” Loki leaned in closer and stared into his eyes. “He still looks a bit dazed, Thor, but otherwise fine. He knows the week days ah but –”

“Don’t you want to ask me what the name of my President is?” Tony joked weakly as he sat up.

“Is it still Matthew Ellis?”

“Yes?” Tony arched his brows. “How do you know that?”

“I tried to conquer your planet,” Loki huffed. “You think I wouldn’t ask about who is one of the ‘_powerful_’ people that I might have to pay attention to? Admittedly, Barton named you first and only after the Avengers did he start to list all the officials which is why I-“

“-Went for me, and not for the President.” Tony blinked. Again. “That sounds dangerously _sane and logical.”_

“Thank you.” Loki sent him a toothy grin. “Now come, we have things to do and Elves to kill.”

“You orc,” Tony muttered.

“Rude. _Hobbit_.”

“Thank you, I like them.”

“Of course you do.” Loki snorted then stood up.

Loki set the boat down carefully and then they walked up a cliff, aware that Malekith was about to approach them. Rage, silent and white, was boiling in Tony and growing – he hadn’t forgotten who Malekith had killed.

“Are you ready?” Thor asked him, a serious expression on his face.

“I am,” Loki said on his other side, and they stood up, watching as white spots walked up towards them.

_They were still ugly_. Tony definitely preferred Legolas over those elves, they were just – ugly. Admittedly, they were Dark Elves but still, the inner geek in Tony was heavily disappointed and did not like them.

“Do you prefer your lovers screaming or silent?” Loki looked at him, a dark smirk playing on his lips.

“I’m not sure how that is of any interest to you,” Tony replied. “But normally, I like the loud ones.”

“I’m not comfortable with this conversation,” Thor threw in.

“A true shame, Thor.” And before Tony realised what the glint was in Loki’s hand, it was already buried inside of Thor and Loki threw him down the cliff.

“Fuck-”

Loki winked at him. “I prefer the loud ones too,” and with that, he jumped after Thor.

For a whole second Tony simply stared.

“You bastard,” he hissed and then ran after the Aesir, new rage welling up inside of him. And doubt –

He –

Malekith was so close and Thor was rolling on the ground, possessing one hand less than he’d had a couple of minutes ago and Loki –

Loki looked so smug, completely happy and at ease and Tony just didn’t know anymore where his head was, except for trying to grab Loki and –

Do something because Thor would survive this, he knew that, he’d taken worse in the battle after Loki had dropped him in the Hulk cage. He ran at Loki, the short knife he’d been given pulled out –

He aimed at Loki, swung the knife and Loki danced a step to the side, a manic new gleam in those cold eyes. How could Tony have thought –

“Nice try, _mortal,_” Loki chuckled, then grabbed his arm and –

Pain made Tony drop the knife. “But not something I’d recommend you ever doing again.” The next instant, Tony was grabbed and pressed against Loki’s chest, sharp metal scratching over his throat and _oh fuck_, Loki still smelled so awful.

“Malekith!” Loki crooned and the voice was so wrong, shouldn’t Loki’s be filled with hate or rage? He swallowed and tried to kick Loki’s legs but the Trickster simply held the knife more strongly against his jugular. “I am Loki, of Jötunheim. And I bring you a gift-”

With that, Tony was thrust forward, the ground getting closer to his face and he covered it, just so, landing painfully on his side but –

_Not_ on his arc reactor.

“I ask only one thing in return. A good seat from which to watch Asgard burn.”

“You bastard,” Tony coughed, trying to sit up and –

The next thing he knew, he was flying in the air, his limbs frozen and red was filling his vision, the Aether running out of him through all his orifices.

What the –

It felt like worlds were running through him, cold and hot, energy of unknown amount curling around his arc reactor and the red bolts on his chest, getting stronger and –

Chicken, he thought numbly, I smell of chicken.

Which made sense.

Somehow Tony always thought he’d smell of bacon.

Then he was falling again, small stones burying themselves into his face and –

“Loki, now-”

_What –_

He peered at Thor who was suddenly clad in his armour and had his fucking hand back. Tony did feel something at that which might have been relief and Thor was pointing his hammer at the Aether, and –

Loki was crouching above him. _Again._

“You are both definitely related,” Tony mumbled. “Cheaters.”

“You were asleep and couldn’t plan with us.” Loki threw him a glance, careful not to touch Tony, his eyes directed to the Aether. “And-”

The Aether seemed to explode and as glaring white light hit Tony’s eyes, he closed them.

When he opened them again, red shards were glinting in the light and –

“I need my suit,” Tony said in an urgent voice. “Loki, I need you to-”

“I don’t know where your suits are stored, I cannot access them like that.“

“When I tell you-”

“I would need to look into your mind for that,” Loki interrupted him in a quiet voice as Malekith embraced the Aether which looked, well, interesting.

“That’s all?”

Loki blinked at that, a vulnerable shadow flickering through his green eyes, making him look younger than he was for a second. Tony nodded as Loki rose a hand to his temple; so far, Loki _hadn’t_ betrayed them and probably contributed more than not to getting the Aether out of Tony, which kind of meant he’d saved his fucking life.

“Think of the suit you need,” Loki suggested, and it looked like Malekith was done with the Aether too.

Tony thought quickly of his Mark XLIII and –

The next moment Loki was ripped away from him, just as the suit was forming on Tony –

“Lo-”

Tony had forgotten about Thor who got Loki just as he was starting to get sucked in.

Oh, bombs in battles. How did Tony love them. He stood up, hurrying to Loki’s side, the armour clanking familiarly around him.

“Don’t stab me again,” Loki told him and flicked two knives into his hands.

“You’ve got the knives,” Tony replied – and the visor shut down loudly. He fired up the repulsors in his gauntlets. “How about _you_ don’t stab _me?”_

Apparently that had been the key word for the Dark Elves to attack them, realising that huh, maybe it wasn’t as easy as they’d thought it would be.

Tony took care of the elves on his side, aiming his repulsors at them, ducking when Loki growled a, _“Cover!”_ because that was obviously what cover meant, right? And a knife was thrown over his head, taking out an elf Tony could have managed on his own.

_Rude._

But he felt oddly warm at the thought that Loki had looked at his elves and thought, “Hey, maybe this small little mortal needs some help,” and then Tony jumped into the air, cutting down three of Loki’s elves with his lasers which gave the Trickster enough of an opportunity to ram knives into their vulnerable spots.

Good thing that Tony took care of Loki’s adversaries, right?

“That-” Loki panted, sweaty black strands falling into his face, “was completely unnecessary.”

“Is that Asgardian for ‘thank you’?” Tony quipped straight back and –

“Wait here,” Loki said, his eyes on Thor.

“I don’t –”

Loki was already teleporting - there was no other explanation for how he suddenly stood behind the dark and grim elf - and thrust a long sword through its back.

Tony was speeding up the thrusters in his boots, a sudden worry spiking in him when he saw Loki standing there as the elf slowly turned around and –

Thor was yelling and Loki on his back –

_No, no –_

Tony landed with a heavy thunk next to Loki, just as Thor hastened to him at the same time.

“No-”

“Thor,” Tony said, his mind racing as he saw Loki’s skin greying with rapid acceleration. “I need you to sit him up.”

“Tony, this is not-”

“I have a plan,” Tony interrupted him hurriedly and undid the helmet, aiming with his wrist at Loki. “This will hurt.”

“Do your worst,” Loki panted and Tony took that as permission to send his armour at Loki.

It was like a giant band aid, he supposed, as the middle parts wrapped around Loki, applying pressure on both sides to stop him from bleeding. “I’m not sure how much time this will give you,” he said, and he was surprised to hear his voice trembling.

“Asgard can’t do anything,” Thor said roughly. “Not after what we just did.”

“Right. So, _Earth_.” He looked at Loki who looked horrible, dark grey lines appearing on his otherwise handsome face. “Thor-”

“_Convergence,”_ Loki coughed. “The portals will align then.”

“Where’s the portal on Svartalfheim?”

Loki’s mouth twitched. “Close by.”

) ‡ (

_Of course_ the portal ended up being in a cave a few feet away from them.

And of course, it also spat them out where Thor had collected him after Tony inhaled the Aether.

Because where else would it be.

) ‡ (

“J, I want you to ready my private jet,” he informed his watch as soon as they were out of the cave, Loki being carried in Thor’s arms like the fair maiden he’d accused Tony of being earlier.

Before, you know, all that had happened.

_“Of course, Sir. Glad to have you back.”_

“Thanks.” He looked at Loki. “How are you holding up, buddy?”

Loki only looked at him through almost closed eyes, his breath getting shallower but he was still kicking and that was what soothed Tony’s growing anxiety. But only just.

_“Sir, the jet is ready, Ms Potts flew here after you went missing.”_

“Great, we’ll take that and tell her, that I’ll explain soon. Then, I want you to fly the suit, can you do that? And don’t drop me, l-”

“Tony-”

“Thor, you need to hold Loki upright for a hot minute and –” he squinted into the distance. “That,” he said, his eyes on the dark clouds that were building, “looks like trouble. Can you deal with that?”

“Yes. You will take care of him?”

“Of course.” Tony grinned as the suit encased Loki fully. “Always wanted to be a passenger of my own suit, didn’t you know? Good luck.”

“To you as well.”

And then JARVIS let the suit hug Tony tight and they were off –

) ‡ (

London’s air was frightfully cold.

Tony just wanted to have that said, as the aforementioned cold air was freezing his butt cheeks off.

) ‡ (

When Tony finally closed his eyes, it was about 24 hours later and Loki was breathing regularly, hooked up to an IV and with only a scar left on his stomach and back.

The bastard could have mentioned that his magic was going to repair him.

) ‡ (

His arc reactor was feeling delightfully normal when Tony woke up in his bed. His blanket was wrapped around him and his legs felt heavy but – the arc reactor glowed blue and there were no red bolts dancing on his chest anymore, turning him into roast chicken.

JARVIS was silent as Tony blinked awake, the sunlight tickling his face with its warmth. He was back home –

Everything felt so far away, a vague memory of him being on Asgard and meeting Frigga only to lose her in an unfair battle a few hours later. JARVIS had told him Thor took care of Malekith in London with help from Selvig and Jane, praised be their tendency to put their noses into things that they weren’t supposed to notice. In that minute, Tony had cleaned Loki’s nasty wound, ignored to the best of his ability that Loki looked underfed and less bulky than he did in the armour and in the plane flying back to the States.

He had been so sure Loki was dead, his breath stopping for several minutes repeatedly and Tony never wanted to shoot energy into people again with the help of his arc reactor because that… had been a lot. But Loki was still alive, so that surely counted for_ something?_

And then there was green magic, dancing over the washed out skin and the wound Tony was trying to stitch back together, healing it.

Simple as that.

Loki had fallen asleep and Tony let him, making sure that Happy got a message to wait with the Audi at the airport. They’d shoved Loki into it and then brought him to the Tower. It hadn’t been fun but it was worth it.

“Morning,” Loki greeted him as Tony’s eyes finally focused on the Trickster next to him in bed. “I have been ordered here by your servant, to keep an eye out on you-“

“Which is n-”

“And gracious as I am, I decided to adhere to his wishes and keep you company.”

“That’s –”

“You snore.” Loki glared at him and put the book down. “Quite loudly, in fact. That the ceiling didn’t fall down on us is surprising.”

“Rude.” Tony yawned and sat up slowly, pulling the blanket with him. Then, they stared out of the window into the blue sky. It was …_ comfortable,_ not as tense as Tony would have thought. Loki was a nice quiet company, his breathing rhythm matching Tony’s.

“Thor killed Malekith, by the way,” Tony eventually said to break the silence.

_“Good.”_ Was the response.

Somehow it was that which made him realise that Loki was in bed with him.

How times changed. First Loki threw him out of this building here, just two rooms away from the bed and now they were here. In Tony’s bed. Chilling two feet apart because they were … former enemies, newly formed allies?

Who the fuck knew with Loki.

Tony cleared his throat. “Did you have a shower yet?”

Loki looked at him like he couldn’t believe he was real. Which was fair, considering Tony was Tony Stark.

“I trick you into thinking I’ve betrayed you and Thor. Use seiðr on you, survive Svartalfheim and stare at you while you sleep and the first thing you actually can think of to ask me is if I showered yet?”

“Yes?” Admittedly, that was a bit of a strange thing to ask but Tony liked showered people.

“Anthony Stark, you are a strange man.”

“Thanks, same goes to you.” Tony turned his head to the side. “Shower?”

“Gladly.” Loki stood up and held a hand out to Tony.

“What?” Tony glanced between Loki and the offered hand, his gaze flicking back and forth.

“I’m newly out of prison,” Loki replied with a glint in his eyes. “I almost died, my mother is dead, Thor will probably throw me back into my cell as soon as he can and I am bored. And as you have so delightfully informed me that I smell bad, you can go and scrub my back.”

He wiggled with his fingers. “Join me in your shower, Anthony.”

“You didn’t say, ‘please scrub my back for me, Anthony, I know your fingers would work wonders on my poor back and-”

“Anthony.” Loki’s tone did drop to that voice and he leant forward, looking like a soft angel in an extra large shirt and a smile on his pretty face. “Would you do me the honours of washing my back? I do promise to reciprocate that favour, I might even show you why people call me ‘_silvertongue’._”

“Now that,” Tony said, reaching for Loki’s hand, “is something a guy wants to hear.”

Loki chuckled, warm and soft and a cinnamon smell hit Tony in the face as they stood close to one another.

“Did you already-” he started to protest.

Loki rolled his eyes, muttered something which sounded suspiciously like, “semantics,” and then he pressed his lips to Tony’s.

If that was how Loki intended to convince Tony to go with him into the shower, then Tony was game.

They could figure other remaining and probably, important things out later.

) ‡ (

“No, Thor. He left after I stitched his wound back together.”

_“Oh.”_ Thor sounded disappointed over the phone. _“But you’re sure he’s alive?”_

“Yes. I’ll call you should he show up and cause trouble.”

_“Thank you,”_ Thor sighed. _“And thank you for your help-”_

“No problem,” Tony replied, and he disconnected the call a few moments later.

“I lied to your brother who is my teammate.” Tony looked down at Loki, who was cuddling quite happily on his chest, nuzzling the arc reactor. “You better appreciate what I do for you.”

“You have my full _appreciation,”_ Loki said, and he pressed a kiss to the blue glow before looking up at Tony.

“Awesome.” Tony sighed, his hand drawing lazy patterns on Loki’s skin as he looked into Loki’s green eyes.

Perhaps green might become a new favourite colour of his if he gave this a chance to… run its course.

Loki tilted his head up and gave Tony a soft kiss which didn’t speak at all of their previous hunger and desperation, and Tony hummed in contentment.

This was probably going to backfire in his face later but –

Worth it.

At least he still had his head on his shoulders.

One less problem to worry about.

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [Laughing Among The Ashes](https://archiveofourown.org/works/21785638) by [SalamanderInk](https://archiveofourown.org/users/SalamanderInk/pseuds/SalamanderInk)


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